Using Microformats

Microformats allow you to reuse information from the Maine.gov meeting calendar and agency list in your calendar application or address book.

Microformats are currently supported using plug-ins by the Firefox and Safari Browsers. Firefox 3 and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 have announced that support will be built in.

In the meantime if you use either Firefox or Safari, you can take advantage of this new technology now. Here's how.

Firefox

The free Operator plug-in adds microformats detection and integration to Firefox version 1.5-2, and Netscape Navigator versions 9.

Safari

The Safari Microformats plugin notifies you when the author of the website has published Microformats and allows you to easily import information into Apple's Address Book and iCal.

How it works

When information using microformats is present in the website you visit, the Microformats logo will be shown in the address bar.

Click on the logo, and a sheet opens, showing you all the Microformats. You can add them individually, or all at once.

At the bottom of the sheet, you can choose which iCal calendar or Address Book group you wish to import the Microformats data into. You can add one piece at a time by clicking the plus sign next to the data, or you can add all microformatted data by clicking "Add all".